I own a house on a beach in the Bahamas. It’s a great place to hole up and write. No heat, no air conditioning, no television. Warmed by the sun, cooled by breezes, entertained by sunrises and sunsets.
Articles with 2001
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The word yet hinges existential debate
Yet. Such a little word. Such a feisty little word.
The famed Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory • Photo by Doc Searls (CC BY 2.0)
Our age? It’s now an educated guess
How old is the universe? The amazing thing is not the answer — approximately 15 billion years — but the fact that there is an answer.
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Putting a new twist on genetics theories
Last week I visited the Queen Conch, a large and common shellfish of the Caribbean. Let’s give that subject another whirl.
The shell of a Queen conch • Photo by cheesy42 (CC BY 2.0)
Our cousins in name and life
Have you ever seen a pair of Queen Conchs making love? Neither have I.
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Cloning and the human self
I started writing this column on cloning six months ago, then put it aside.
Photo by Cross Duck (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
A poet’s kiss touches science
“The way bees on a drowsy day suck honey from fuchsia.” At least once each year I fly back and forth to Ireland on Aer Lingus, the Irish national airline. These words are woven into the fabric that covers the airplane seats, with other brief excerpts from Irish writers.
Photo by Elia Pellegrini on Unsplash
Glory, mystery of the genome
The sequencing of the human genome is an epic milestone in human intellectual history. You will hear it compared to the building of the atomic bomb, or putting a man on the moon. It is more, much more.
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On the contrary, Mr. Thoreau
“In wildness is the preservation of the world,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in one of his more self-indulgent moments, and environmentalists never tire of quoting him. Into the woods, they urge. Into the woods. That’s where we’ll find our salvation.
Mosaic image of the Sun provided by TRACE • NASA (Public Domain)
TRACE photos let us perceive the Sun’s power
“Knowledge has killed the Sun, making it a ball of gas with spots,” wrote D. H. Lawrence in one of his crankier anti-science moments. He couldn’t have been more wrong.